What was the first movie to ever be streamed online?
In the age of streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime, it’s hard to imagine a world where we couldn’t instantly access thousands of films with a button or voice command. As we now sit comfortably in our living rooms, streaming the latest blockbusters on our smart TVs or tablets, it’s fascinating to actually think about it: the entire history of cinema is just a click away. Yet, there was a time when the idea of streaming a full-length movie over the Internet seemed like the stuff of science fiction.
That is, of course, until one movie did it first. In the grand scheme of things, we’ve only been streaming out entertainment for a small fraction of our combined time watching it. First, you had to go to the theatre, and then you could catch something on TV. Later came VHS, DVD, Laser Disc, and finally BluRay.
But, by the time our latest iteration of physical media had arrived, the shift had already happened: our main way of watching films and TV was through the Internet. The historic moment that changed it all was the streaming of the movie Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees.
Released in 1991, Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees is a mind-bending blend of documentary and fiction directed by David Blair, following a weapons engineer who inherits a hive of bees from his grandfather. The film, which dabbled in anti-war sentiment and mysticism, and featured a small cameo by William Burroughs, was truly ahead of its time, not just in its ironic narration and genre-mashing content but also in how it was first delivered to audiences.
Exactly 30 years ago, in 1993, Blair made the pioneering decision to upload his entire film to the Internet, making it the first ever movie to be streamed online. Considering the infancy of the Internet and the limited bandwidth available at the time, this was no small feat. Early internet users, many of whom had never experienced anything beyond text-based web pages or agonisingly-low-resolution images, were suddenly given the opportunity to watch a full-length feature – directly from their computers.
In time, the decision to stream the movie would prove to be much more just a technological marvel. It was a seismic shift in the film distribution paradigm, illuminating the potential of the Internet as a viable platform. It’s strange to think how irate we might get now at having to wait for even a minute of buffering. Given the constraints of early 1990s internet speeds, viewers would have needed the patience to render the film and tolerate its pixelated resolution. However, it was the first step towards the future of media consumption and the digital revolution to come.
What started as a curious experiment with Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees eventually became integral to our cinematic experience. So, while Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees may not be a household name, its place in the annals of film history is absolutely assured.
